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If you've been searching for a healthy and delicious version of the two-bite brownie, look no further. Mairlyn Smith, PHEc, cookbook author, teacher and Second City comedy troupe alumna, has done the legwork for you. "I've been working on a two-bite brownie since they came out and never got it. And then one of those divine moments where you run out of sugar and you go, 'What am I going to use?' I used a little bit of honey and I think that's what changed it," she said. Smith's Triple-Chocolate Brownie Cookies pack all the chocolaty punch of the original but with heart-healthy canola oil, natural cocoa powder, cocoa nibs and dark chocolate. Using natural cocoa powder is key, "It hasn't been alkalized and so as a result the flavinols are mostly intact. When they alkalize, or when they Dutch cocoa powder, they destroy 2/3 of the flavinols," Smith said. "If you're eating cocoa, thinking you're doing all kinds of good things for your heart, you're not doing as much as you would if you bought natural cocoa powder."

This recipe is one of more than 140 that are included in Smith's book 'Healthy Starts Here!' (Whitecap, 2011). Each chapter in the book is dedicated to a superfood such as berries and chocolate, or group of such as cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower). Smith is a believer in healthy food tasting not just good but "fabulous." Her passion for seasonal and local eating comes through in the categorization of the book – each recipe is labelled by season and also by whether or not it's 'Kid Friendly.' Smith tested her recipes on a range of children, with different dietary comfort levels. Some of the children struggled to eat anything other than chicken nuggets, others were vegetarians, and some were easy-going eaters. If the majority of the kids enjoyed the dish, it got the 'Kid Friendly' label.

Smith included recipe analysis and diabetes food choice values alongside each recipe in the book – using a unique system for her nutrient breakdowns. "There are a lot of computer programs that you can get that have the nutrition breakdowns. From what I know, and from the people that I know that do this, they’re all American," Smith said. Hers is the only Canadian cookbook she knows of that uses only Canadian products in the nutrient breakdowns. She bought popular brands that are widely available in Canadian stores and used the nutrition information from the labels in her analysis.

Smith is passionate about food education and informed food choices. The painstaking process she undertook compiling the nutrient breakdowns for her recipes is indicative of this. Smith credits her awareness of healthy eating to her father's heart disease diagnosis when she was 15 years-old growing up in Vancouver, BC. "When I went to UBC and took foods and nutrition, it was to find a way to make my dad healthier or live longer," Smith said. "When I get emails where people say, 'Thank you for helping me change my life and change my family's lives,' it's huge to me because I wanted to make a difference. It started with my dad but it has really spilled out." Smith's dad recently celebrated his 89th birthday. "You can change your life. He's had 39 years since he was 50 to have fun with us and share his life with us. What a great gift," Smith added, "I would like other people to change their lives so that they can spend their time with the people that love them. It sounds kumbaya–y but I really do believe it."

As a former school teacher, Smith is trying to educate readers, "I think the obstacle for me was to try to make this funny and entertaining enough that you would be willing to go to the grocery store and pick [unusual foods] out," Smith says. "The background in Second City helps because come on, nutrition is boring. And I love nutrition."

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat together the brown sugar, oil, honey, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl using electric beaters until the batter is creamy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in the cocoa powder gently. Warning: turn those beaters to full throttle and you’ll be a cocoa-covered mess in seconds. Start beating on low speed, then increase the speed once the cocoa has been incorporated. Beat for 1 minute.

Stir together the flour, cocoa nibs, chocolate chips, wheat germ, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture to the cocoa mixture, and blend until well mixed, about 1 minute. The batter will be really sticky.

Drop the batter by rounded teaspoonfuls (10 mL), or use a mini-scoop, onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake until the outside of the cookies is crunchy looking and they have puffed up, 8 to 10 minutes. Don’t overbake these morsels. There aren’t a lot of things that taste worse than burnt chocolate; okay, I can name three, but that’s for another day. My oven bakes these perfectly in exactly 9 minutes.

Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheet before removing them and letting them cool completely on a wire rack. (Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months.)

Traditional tabbouleh is made with couscous, a tiny, grain-size pasta made from coarsely ground hard durum wheat. My version uses wholegrain quinoa, which makes it nutty-tasting and protein-rich.

Make sure you start this recipe a day ahead of time.

Makes 4 cups (1 L) | One serving = 1 cup (250 mL)

Quinoa tabbouleh

1/2 cup (125 mL) whole-grain quinoa

2 cups (500 mL) lightly packed parsley sprigs

1/2 cup (125 mL) lightly packed fresh mint

1 cup (250 mL) grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 large shallot, diced

Lemon dressing

1 large lemon, scrubbed well and dried

2 tbsp (30 mL) extra virgin olive oil

For the tabbouleh, the night before you want to serve it, place the quinoa in a fine wire-mesh strainer and rinse it well. Place the rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan. Add 1 cup (250 mL) water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until the grains are translucent and all the water has been absorbed, 18 to 20 minutes.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. Let the quinoa cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container overnight.

The next day, wash and spin-dry the parsley and mint. Make sure the herbs are very dry or the salad will be soggy.

Chop the parsley very finely, and chop the mint into slightly bigger pieces.

Mix together the quinoa, parsley, mint, tomatoes, and shallot in a salad bowl, and toss well.

For the lemon dressing, remove the zest from the lemon using a Microplane grater. Set aside.

With your palm, roll the lemon on the counter (this makes it yield more juice), then cut it in half and squeeze out ¼ cup (60 mL) juice.

Whisk together the lemon juice and oil in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well. Sprinkle with the lemon zest and toss again.

Heat a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Wash your hands. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its casings and into the pot. (This is sort of fun and gross all at the same time.) Wash your hands again. Cook the sausage meat until browned, 3 to 5 minutes, breaking it up with the back of a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Add the onion, and sauté until the onion starts turning a light golden colour, about 5 minutes. Add the celery, both peppers, and garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the rice, thyme, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until the rice is well coated and the spices smell fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and broth, making sure you scrape up all the little browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Aside from adding fabulous flavour, this will prevent the rice from sticking while it's cooking.

Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, until the rice is tender, 55 to 60 minutes.

Using a rice paddle (a shamoji or a flat spoon, scoop the rice from the bottom of the saucepan to the top to redistribute the moister rice at the bottom. I do 4 scooping turns; this way all the grains will have the same fluffy consistency. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Let sit, covered, for 10 minutes. (Store any leftovers in a resealable container in the fridge for up to 4 days.)

Like all whole-grain dishes, the jambalaya actually tastes better on day two, and even better on day three.

Health Bite

If you use chorizo sausages, which are typically made from pork, instead of Italian turkey sausages, the nutritional payload changes right across the board, especially in the fat and sodium departments—and not in a good way.

Photographs courtesy of Whitecap Books

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